Falling Leaves
by KnoxAingeal
Summary: "Many just think the entry is a joke made for ANBU recruits to go ghost hunting. All that is in the bingo book is one word. Shinobi. No picture, no skill set, no rank. Those who believe in his existence say that he is Death itself, with eyes as red as the Devil's and a blade as swift as the wind. He's but a rumor, a ghost." **Slight Winter Soldier xover. AU. Good!Sasuke**
1. Creating a Weapon

"I'M FREE, FREE!"

The great sand demon cackled as he took in his surroundings. It was invigorating to feel the wind on his face and the thrill of battle.

Uzumaki Naruto on the other hand, was not so pleased with the turn of events. He may contain the fox demon but he alone was no match for Shukaku, even with the boss toad.

Using his famed battle instincts, Naruto was able to close the distance between the tanuki demon and them in an attempt to wake Gaara, but as Naruto's forehead collided with the redheads own, the demon made one last ditch effort to completely obliterate his opponent.

Naruto struggled in the air as sand completely covered his left arm and shoulder.

"N-no, w-wait!"

As soon as he spoke the deed was done.

His arm was completely ripped off.

Gaara was awake now, but Naruto was completely preoccupied with his missing limb. Blood poured freely from the stump that was Naruto's arm, he looked to the boss toad to see him smack Gaara into a clearing below.

Seeing as Naruto's chakra could no longer sustain the boss summon, Bunta disappeared in a colossal storm of smoke.

Hitting the tree branches as he fell, the genin could only stare at his wound in shock. He hoped that with the fox's aid he'd be able to regrow the limb, but he'd never been injured to such an extent.

Landing with a dull thud in a clearing below, Naruto took his eyes of his left side to his right to see Gaara laying not too far from him.

"H-hey! Tell that damn demon to give me back my arm!"

Gaara looked around franticly, it seemed that now that he was beaten, he was afraid of being at the mercy of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Don't come near me!"

Naruto had already lost a lot of blood and it was weakening him. He could feel the demonic chakra rush to the site of injury but from the looks of it, it mostly was working to stop the bleeding.

Gaara's two siblings appeared shortly after that. They rescued him of course. He was family after all.

Naruto's breath shook. His eyes solely focused on his wound.

Could he even be an active shinobi anymore?

Where were Sasuke and Sakura? He was injured, shouldn't his team come to his aid?

It was most definitely hours he laid there. The smoke cleared from the battle in the village, and the sun was setting?

Was no one looking for him at all?

The blood had coagulated enough to stall its flow, but here Naruto still laid with a missing arm and no one aware of his absence.

The last thing he saw before he gave into sleep from exhaustion was a shinobi in an ANBU mask reaching to grab him.

Maybe he was safe after all?

He awoke violently to being doused with ice water.

"GAH, WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Silence. You will only speak when allowed. Understood?"

"LIKE HELL! Do you think it's polite to just dumb water all over people?! What's wrong with you?!"

The man in questioned slapped him, hard.

"You will only speak when allowed. Understood?"

Naruto didn't respond but took a moment to get a grasp on his situation. He was strapped to a metal chair that leaned back slightly keeping his now bare feet bound and off the concrete floor. His remaining arm was bound as well. The room was small, and cold. Whomever had put him here has taken the jacket of his jumpsuit and the only thing that covered Naruto was only in the mesh he wore underneath. There were no windows and the only source of light came from the hanging light bulb that hung directly above him. The man in front of him had no out of the ordinary features. Brown hair, black eyes, and pale skin. He wore a basic uniform that consisted of black shinobi pants and sandals along with a black sleeveless shirt. He wore leather gloves though, and it hurt when the material hit his skin.

"No, I don't understand, who the hell are you? Why am I here?! I need to talk to a healer! My arm! Please! It's gone! I need to be able to be a shinobi!"

The outburst was met with another forceful blow to the face. Naruto winced and his eyes watered from the sting.

"You will only speak when allowed. Understood?"

The next few hours continued with Naruto trying to find answers only to be hit again. He knew thanks to the fox he had a decent amount of stamina for his age and a healing factor that any shinobi would be jealous of. So he found it strange when the bruises and gashes on his face didn't start to heal immediately.

The man who was hitting him earlier left. He was alone in this concrete room, wet from the water bath, and bruised from the beating. The light was turned off when the man left, so he was left alone to his own devices. Alone.

The man with the leather gloves would come back every so often, and again Naruto would try to get answers. Eventually, when the man grew tired of just hitting his face, he unstrapped Naruto from the chair, to the farthest wall in the cell. The chair in the center of the room was removed so all Naruto had to look at while alone was the concrete walls surrounding him.

When Naruto spoke, he would be hit. He learned this pattern. He must have been here for a week now, his body craved food but he was able to remain hydrated when the man with the leather gloves punished him with the ice water.

"I don't understand, why are you doing this? I'm injured, please!" Naruto looked up at the man. The young genin's sole arm was bound above him high enough to where he couldn't sit on the ground comfortably. He was kneeling. His beloved orange jumpsuit trousers were in tatters, stained with his blood and damp from the water he was usually covered with. The man with the gloves continued to beat him, and douse him with water. His body shook, craving for heat, it was painful, as wounds littered his body.

Eventually he wasn't so much as worried as to why he was here, but he was very concerned with the way he was healing. It was slow. Slower than the way he healed before. When he attempted to shift the weight from his bound arm he could feel the signs of broken bones. Usually they would heal in the matter of a few hours, and while Naruto didn't have much concept of time in the room, he knew that it had to be more than just a few hours.

The man with the leather gloves visited him again.

Naruto remained silent.

He did think often about his team and friends though. He wondered what was going on in the village, if anyone was looking for him. He wondered if Kakashi was concerned that he wasn't showing up for training. He wondered if Sasuke missed sparring with him, and he wondered if Sakura missed chatting with him. Did anyone actually look for him after the invasion?

He often thought of the old ramen joint he would frequently attend but with his stomach starving for food he tried not to think about it.

He wondered if Jiraiya missed him, even though he left Naruto to train on his own as the old pervert preferred collecting 'research'.

He did indeed think about a lot of things, but he never once spoke when the man with the leather gloves visited.

Naruto didn't know how much time passed before he was greeted with another person's presence. This man was older than the previous. He wore no gloves, but he was wrapped in bandages and walked with a cane. Was he beaten as Naruto was? Naruto looked at the man but remained silent, he knew that if he spoke unless asked that he would be punished severely.

The man with the one eye stood silently for a few minutes, staring at Naruto.

Danzo smiled at the progress that was being made with Project Shinobi. To create a true living weapon for the betterment of the village. That was his goal. Since the invasion and even before then, Konoha grew weak with peace. It was high time that the future of the village was taken into consideration and even if it meant sacrificing one life for progress, he would take it. The genin in front of him would be molded into the perfect weapon of the leaf. Danzo would make sure of it.

The boy in front of him no longer spoke out of term and simply looked at him with those blue eyes. It was significant progress. There was still such a fire in those eyes, but Danzo would fix that.

Naruto was a bit put off when the man in front of him smiled, but said nothing, he would wait until the man requested him to speak.

"I'm very impressed by how well you've learned Shinobi. As a reward for listening, I brought you a meal."

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched at the man when he simple addressed him as Shinobi. That wasn't Naruto's name. Did the man know his name at all? He didn't continue too far on that train of thought though, he perked up at the thought of food. The tray was set in front of him. It consisted of a small steak, and assortment of vegetables and an apple.

Naruto attempted to move his hand to start eating but as it was chained to the wall he did not succeed.

Naruto looked up to the man, his eyes questioning, but he said nothing.

The man crouched down in front of him and began cutting the steak into pieces. Naruto just watched. He enjoyed the smell of food wafting through the air, it was a nice change from urine and blood. Naruto was a bit ashamed of the former, but with the water he consumed he eventually had to relieve himself. He held it as long as possible but was quite upset when he soiled his own pants.

It didn't seem to bother the man in front of him though. He watched as he pierced a bite of meat on the plastic fork and held it up to Naruto.

The boy wasn't hesitant and took a bite with much gusto. His head was suddenly slammed against the wall as the old man held his jaw with surprising strength.

"You will not move unless told to. Understand?"

Naruto's eyes widened with fear. This was his only chance at a meal and he screwed it up!

"Y-yes! Please, I-I'll be good, I promise! Just don't take the food away!"

The grip relaxed on his jaw and his head fell from against the wall. It was uncomfortable having his arms hold his weight but he didn't move as he didn't want to upset the man with the food.

Danzo smiled. It would probably take another month before Naruto was truly subservient to Danzo and his handlers. After this evening, they would begin to wipe away all that was Uzumaki Naruto and all that would be left would be the Shinobi.

Danzo skewered another piece of meat onto the fork and held it out for Naruto. The boy didn't move. He waited, his eyes looking at Danzo for his approval to move.

"Eat."

Naruto ate.

The rest of the meal went smoothly between the two of them. An orderly came in and took the tray and handed Danzo an object. Naruto couldn't tell what it was but he knew it was meant for him. It looked like the face mask that Kakashi sensei wore, but it wasn't cloth. It was stiff, made of some sort of rubber like material.

Danzo motioned for Naruto to move his head forward. When it was on him, it held tightly against his face and covered his neck as well; it was then that he knew what it was.

It was a muzzle.

"When asked to speak you will not move to answer until this is removed. Understand?"

Naruto only nodded.

That was all the man spoke before he left.

Once Danzo was back in the observation room he looked to one of his Root doctors who was always monitoring the boy.

"He hasn't made any movements that show he's uncomfortable in the muzzle."

"Good. He'll have to get used to having it on that he feels uncomfortable without it. All missions he'll go on he'll be wearing that."

The doctor turned and looked to Danzo.

"How will he perform jutsu if he is unable to speak?"

"He'll do it silently of course."

"Right, forgive my ignorance Lord Danzo. Also, about his missing arm. We've begun working on the prototype you suggested to us, but it will be difficult to calibrate it until we've received samples of his chakra network to sync it up to the port that will be connected to the flesh of his shoulder."

"You of course will have access to his chakra samples taken by the medical aids periodically once they're collected. As part of the team of primary handlers you'll need to be aware of everything and anything that happens to him. It will only help him in the long run if you are aware of such things."

Danzo kept his one-eyed gaze on the screens before him.

Naruto, alone, muzzled, and cold looked down at the floor. Thinking of his situation, he finally allowed himself to cry. It wasn't long, or frantic. He knew that if he made noise the man with the leather gloves would come. So tears rolled silently down his face. Down the black muzzle that snuggled against his cheeks.

Why was he here?

Kakashi grew concerned about Naruto's disappearance. At first, he only believed the body needed time to deal with the death of the Third after the battle, but when he went to check on the boy in his apartment all he found was two week old instant ramen sitting on the stove and a hole in his roof from the invasion.

The jounin went in search of Jiraiya to see if he was still training the boy, but he found that the sannin had left in search of his former teammate Tsunade.

This left the man worried about his young genin, but he still had two to manage for now. He had no Hokage at the moment to go to with the issue and he knew that council wouldn't take the time to gather and speak with him over such a simple matter as a genin neglecting his duties.

He turned his thoughts to his other two students as he walked towards Training Ground 7. They had also begun to ask about Naruto's lack of attendance.

Sakura more than Sasuke though. He didn't seem to care about the boy's absence too much, though he did catch Sasuke making a comment and turning to his right to see the blonde's reaction all to remember that he wasn't there. It seemed the young Uchiha was fonder of Naruto than when they first started team seven.

As per order of the Council, Sasuke was to receive special training in order to rise in ranks and become an ANBU. The Uchiha was all too enthusiastic about this as the boy always desired strength to defeat his brother.

He could see a change in Sasuke though. Now that Naruto was missing he tried filling the void with friendly chatter with Sakura, and actively walk throughout the village and socialize with those who wished to socialize with him.

It seemed that his brush with death from Gaara and Orochimaru had changed him for the better. Kakashi was glad things were picking up with the boy. He would make a great shinobi of the village one day.

Sakura had taken up medical studies at the hospital as a volunteer in her free time. With the invasion still a fresh wound, the hospital staff needed as many hands as possible to deal with tending the injured and prepping the dead for burial.

All in all, everything was going well for team seven, but Kakashi still worried about Naruto.

Naruto awoke and was strapped to the uncomfortable chair again. The man with the leather gloves was there. His hair was darker than before.

"What is your name?"

Naruto didn't speak until the man removed the muzzle he had on.

"U-Uzumaki Naruto."

The man hit him.

"No, you are not. You have no name. You will only be referred to by Codename: Shinobi."

Naruto was confused.

"No, I do have a name. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Danzo watched this process from a different room. There were a few small hidden cameras in the cell that allowed Danzo to observe the boy's reprogramming.

He had to admit that the genin was stubborn. He didn't really take to the mental and physical strain until a few sessions went by, but eventually, he succumbed to the methods of Project Shinobi.

Months went by and the prisoner was almost completely subservient to them. He moved when motioned to, he spoke when given permission to, and he didn't even know who Uzumaki Naruto was when questioned of him. When the boy's main handler asked him to recall all he knew of certain individuals the boy had nothing. There was no Uchiha Sasuke, no Hatake Kakashi, and no Haruno Sakura.

No Uzumaki Naruto.


	2. Building a Weapon

The boy was finally a clean slate six and a half months into first starting Project Shinobi. They boy was now fourteen and could move on to the next phase and now that the Shinobi's mind was in perfect condition, they would begin to work on his body. He was removed from the cell with the chains on the wall and the chair in the center and brought to a different place.

The Shinobi knew he was small and defenseless, he clung to the sides of the men in leather gloves as a lifeline as they walked through the windowless hallways. He knew they were strong and capable, and therefore would be able to protect him until he was strong like them. The Shinobi figured he was born in that cell. He didn't know what was beyond that room, and certainly didn't even begin to process what could be beyond these hallways. He was apprehensive to leave that space he had become comfortable in as they walked down the corridor to a different location.

The Shinobi saw other men and women walk through the halls and the Shinobi could feel their curious gazed locked on him. They all dressed relatively similar and they all had porcelain masks in their possession. Some wore them, some had them hanging on their belts. The Shinobi wondered if he too would get a mask like them. No one ever spoke. The Shinobi certainly didn't speak either, as he never wanted to upset his handlers and he certainly didn't want them telling Danzo that he disobeyed orders.

Danzo.

He was the man with the one eye. The one who fed him his meals.

He didn't receive meals anymore though. Meals were for humans and the Shinobi was told that weapons only receive sustenance as he did now, through the tubes and needles they connected to his arms.

He didn't argue, or question what he was told. That was the way things were. He supposed that other weapons were fed in such a manner as well. He secretly desired to meet a weapon similar to him. It seemed that he was surrounded by humans and just humans. He saw no other weapons being escorted like he down the hallways.

The three men in the leather gloves escorted him to another concrete room. This one had no chains but a cot along the farthest wall. With it, only a small pillow. To the opposite corner nearest the door to the right was metal toilet and sink. On the sink sat some odorless soap.

The Shinobi didn't show any emotion to his new housing, not that he could show much in the first place as half his face was continuously covered. He looked up to the handler on the left for permission to enter.

"This is where you'll be staying from now on. When you aren't training, you will be here or with Lord Danzo. Your body will be given nutrients three times daily by one of the orderlies and your clothes will be changed every evening. Understand?"

The boy nodded, waiting for further instruction.

"You will be brought here once the doctors clean you and look you over."

The Shinobi followed the handlers to a brighter section of the building. There were still no windows, but the lighting was better and everything in these rooms were white, as opposed to the unpainted concrete walls and floors of what he was used to.

Two handlers left, and the one remaining sat along the wall on one of the steel chairs.

One of the doctors sat the Shinobi down on an observation table. All the lights hurt his eyes, but he said nothing. A doctor removed the muzzle.

"Hello Shinobi, my name is Ryuu. I've been assigned as your primary physician. I've been given permission from Lord Danzo to remove the seal on your body so you're healing factor will begin to speed up again. Understood?"

The Shinobi nodded. He sat completely still while the doctors and nurses looked over him, took samples of hair, blood, and chakra. They were all constantly writing notes on clipboards. They patched up any open wounds and reset any broken bones that mended wrong.

They inserted a needle in the crook of his arm. They told him it was his required nutrients for the evening and that when he went back to where the cot was, that he should sleep and not wait for the nurse to come by.

He only nodded.

"Are you feeling any pain at all Shinobi? You may reply verbally." The man named Ryuu spoke.

"No."

The Weapon was slightly taken aback by the sound of his own voice, he recoiled his head and his eyebrows scrunched together slightly.

"Is something wrong?"

"My voice is strange."

Ryuu wrote something down.

"How is it strange Shinobi?"

"It is… odd… faulty?"

The boy struggled with the words. He knew somewhere in his mind that his voice is supposed to be light, youthful, and untarnished as this new voice was. This new voice was raspy, it struggled to pronounce everything and his throat constricted when used.

"That's normal Shinobi, you don't use your voice often and therefore it will become weakened for lack of use."

The Shinobi could only nod, it made sense as he could not remember ever using his voice for more than a sentence or two.

He gave answers when asked questions. They asked again if he felt any pain. They asked if he felt hunger. He didn't believe so, though he wasn't quite sure what hunger was, and though he was aware of the feeling of pain he felt none at the moment.

Danzo was approaching. The Shinobi could here is heavy foot falls and the clacking of his cane against the floor.

His presence was strong and filled the room as he entered. The handler in the far corner stood and put a chair in front of the seated weapon. Danzo sat.

He leaned forward making sure that The Weapon had eye contact with him. The boy didn't flinch under his gaze as expected.

"You will begin training tomorrow. You are to be the perfect weapon of Konoha. You will be strong and you no opponent will be out of reach from your blade." The old man spoke.

The young weapon nodded. When he was in the cell with the chains on the wall Danzo would come to him and talk to him of Konoha. He would tell the Shinobi of its greatness and how that it used to be so strong. He told the Shinobi of the snake in the grass that threatened Danzo and the village.

He couldn't let that happen. He knows that protecting Danzo and the handlers are of the utmost importance. If anything threatened them, it would be eliminated.

He knew that he was weak now. But Danzo tells him that he will be strong, and that he will be the best and most perfect weapon.

The Shinobi didn't feel pride, but he felt something positive at the thought of making Danzo proud of him. He liked the positive feelings, and he liked to please Danzo.

"I have a gift for you." Danzo's gazed turned behind him as a handler walked in with a black metal case.

Opening the case on a metal side table next to where the weapon sat, it contained his missing piece.

It was a prosthetic limb. Metal and perfectly symmetrical to his other arm.

"As you grow it will be fixed to fit your body, it functions perfectly as a limb of flesh and blood, if not better. It is a tool, as you are, and I expect you'll become accustomed to it."

Once finished,Danzo stood and walked to the far end of the room with Ryuu. So far the man was quite happy with the state of his weapon. Even minutes after taking the seal off, he could see the fox's chakra begin to heal all current damage that the boy was currently suffering from. Many of the scars he obtained during his reprograming would be permanent but that was of no consequence.

"The surgery to connect the electrical port to flesh will be painful, but you are aware of that. I know for certain that he won't give you any trouble when it comes to the pain."

Ryuu nodded.

"Lord Danzo, there is one thing I would like to discuss before we send him off for the evening."

Danzo quirked his visible brow but said nothing, waiting for the doctor to continue.

"When he spoke for the first time in four months, he was taken aback by the sound of his own voice. He explained that it was odd, as if he had some inkling that it was different at another time. I feel that as he will no longer be going through the main reprogramming phase that many memories or hints of them will continue to arise if not handled."

He spoke low so the weapon across the room could not hear him over the soft whir of machines that monitored his vitals and fed his body the required nutrients for the evening.

"Are you suggesting that the electrical therapy will be a necessary route? You do know that it is only optional."

"I am quite aware Lord Danzo, but the program stated that should this be attempted on one with a strong will, that it will be necessary and seeing how this. . . glimpse of a memory arose so quickly, it would be best if he had a session this evening to make sure everything is wiped permanently. Nurse Kiriko has handled memory wipes within Root before and I'm positive that she's capable to handle something of this scale."

Danzo only nodded, " If rely on such matters then if he goes rouge or is without a handler and rendezvous point to reset him for longer than a month's time, his memories will return to him violently, and quickly."

"I'm not sure what sort of missions you will be sending him on Lord Danzo, but with the electro therapy and a chakra enhanced memory seal provided by a Yamanaka, I'm almost positive that he should be functional without the treatments for a maximum three months. This being said that once about ten total treatments are completed the memory seal should be enough to hold the memories at bay for as long as he's in commission as long as his chakra network is directly fueling the seal."

"That can be arranged. Memory suppressants have certainly developed since Orochimaru wrote the program in the beginning of the Second Shinobi War. I'll have a Yamanaka from T&I set the seal and then your team will connect the weapons chakra flow to it. It will take a few days to have everything set up but start scheduling the electro therapy sessions every two months. Once the recommended ten sessions have gone by, we'll rely on the seal and monitor its development closely. I expect the first session done by the end of the week. We can't have any more of these . . . glimpses popping up."

"Of course Lord Danzo." Ryuu bowed as Danzo turned and exited the room.

Ryuu walked back over to see his nurses tending to The Weapon. The boy's hair was too obvious and needed to be dealt with. He of course would be going through all the required cosmetic changes that all Root members went through to lessen their unique traits. Both his eyes and hair where to unique and noticeable to any who's met Uzumaki Naruto. It needed to be fixed.

The weapon was curious when the doctor told him that he was going to use a jutsu to permanently change the color of his hair. He was told that blonde was too rare and noticeable. He was also told by a nurse that the color of his eyes would be dulled as well as changing the color of the eyes completely could run a risk of damaging them.

The Shinobi didn't care about what they did with his hair. It was now a dull brown, much like Danzo's. It had grown longer in the past few months. It covered his eyes and almost reached his shoulders. He did care about his eyes as he would need them to be the Leaf's most perfect weapon. Any damage would reduce his capabilities. He was more interested in his knew limb, he knew to be proficient at most tasks that he needed two hands to succeed, but he'd always been missing one. Now with this new arm, he would indeed be a capable weapon.

Naruto was guided over two a metal chair, similar to the one his first memories contained. This one was laid flat though. The medical aids strapped him in to the chair and laid out a collection of instruments by his left side.

Ryuu sat in a chair next to Shinobi.

"Alright Shinobi. I trust you can deal with the pain that this will cause."

They put a piece of rubber in his mouth that separated his teeth. He wasn't sure what for, but when they began cutting into the skin of his left shoulder, he knew indeed why.

His screams echoed throughout the room and down the corridor he entered through.

The process to install the port lasted for about six hours and another three hours to install the arm permanently and run diagnostics on the piece of hardware. His body ached his ghost pains caused by the surgery. He didn't really want to move, but when they unstrapped him and told him to test out the tool he needed to obey.

The doctors were now finished with their examinations and changes needed for him. They changed him out of his tattered and bloody clothes and lead him over to a steel tub to be cleaned. He was surprised at first to how hot the water was, the weapon figured that all water was one temperature. Like the water he was doused with in the room with the chains on the wall. It was an interesting feeling to be able to move the metal limb like his one of flesh and blood, but not feel like it did. He sat still as the medical aids around him got to work. It was strange to see his skin be cleansed of the dried blood and dirt he'd become accustomed to. He stared at his mismatched arms as the nurses stroked his skin with soapy rags. His skin was so pale.

Once he was cleaned one of the aids told him to stand and step out of the tub, they dried the water from him carefully. He was in awe of how delicate their touches were. It was much different to those of the men with the leather gloves. His lower section was wrapped in a white towel and an aid came over with a bundle of clothing.

This set would become a trend as the basis of his standard uniform: a black turtle neck similar to that of the ANBU uniform but with full length sleeves, black shinobi pants held in place by a black leather belt, and black Tabi shoes reinforced with leather at the toes and heel. He was fitted with thin black leather gloves that stretched up to and wrapped around his wrists. His lower calves were wrapped in black shinobi tape and a holster for kunai was placed on both his left and right thigh, attached to his belt along with two other pouches strapped to the back. His metal arm remained uncovered though, minus the glove. The medical aids told him that clothing would generally restrict the movements of his arm and that it should only be covered when stealth is of the utmost importance.

The aids made sure to put the mask back on his face before rushing off with all the notes and samples that were taken this session.

Ryuu approached him and led him over to where his handler was sitting.

"Your handler will escort you back to your room and will be back to wake you for training tomorrow. I expect that all your wounds will be healed and you will be able to handle everything assigned to you."

The Shinobi nodded in conformation and he was escorted back to the room with the cot. He felt better, more efficient, now that he was clean and his body was healing itself.

He still kept close to his handler on the walk back to the room with the cot.

"Lord Danzo states that this will be the only full night's rest you will get in a while. Best make the most of it."

The handler made sure the weapon was a good distance into the room before closing the door.

The Shinobi moved to lay down on the cot resting his head on the small pillow. He couldn't shake the thought of how comfortable his body was now that it was cleaned and resting upon the cot. He stared at the ceiling moving his new arm in as many ways as he could.

Sleep came swiftly that night.

"It's been a whole two years since Naruto's been missing and nothing's been done to actually find him! What if Orochimaru has him?"

Sakura was adamant on the search and rescue of their absent teammate but the fifth Hokage would have none of it, even if it was requested by her apprentice.

"Sakura, I know it's difficult to accept the loss of a teammate, but Naruto is dead and has been dead for a long time now; there is no reason to send capable forces chasing after a ghost. You know as well as I that following his fight with the Suna jincuuriki we was declared dead."

Sakura folded her arms in frustration.

"You told me two days ago that you expect Sasuke and I to take the chunnin exams in Iwa this month, how do you expect us to do that with a missing teammate?"

"I have a replacement lined up for you, temporary of course, until a permanent one is assigned to you."

The young kunoichi wasn't too pleased with this news, but she expected it. She and Sasuke were high class genin, sharpened and skilled from their training the past two years, it was high time they were promoted. Tsunade herself had told her that she was waiting for the opportune time to promote them, as the village as a whole needed to show off their best budding shinobi. They needed to appear strong in view of all others to see.

"You and I both know that his temporary assignment won't go over well with Sasuke. Even now, I'm not too thrilled about it."

"I'm not stupid Sakura, but you're team isn't the first to lose a member nor will you be the last. Naruto's disappearance and following death was a tragedy, but you need to grow up and work with whomever I assign to your team, and I'll say the exact same thing with the Uchiha."

Sakura only nodded, it was no use arguing with her teacher, especially when she was in Hokage mode.

"You'll be meeting the replacement tomorrow at 8:00am at Ground 4. Kakashi will escort him there. I expect you to be at least civil with him and I hope you'll pass the message onto the Uchiha."

"Anything else, Lady Hokage?"

"Yes. Here's his file. His name is Sai. Become aware of his skills and share them with the Uchiha. I expect you three to go over some exercises with Kakashi before you head to Iwa next week."

Grabbing the file Sakura turned and left, closing the door behind her. She usually stopped to chat with the receptionist at the desk at the end of the hall but she had news to deliver.

She took to the roof tops as any other shinobi would, it was good for traveling fast and the speed helped with distracting herself from her anger.

She found Sasuke at his usual spot. Training alone at Ground 7. He was a very dedicated shinobi and it would take him far in his career. He'd put his revenge on the back burner since Naruto's supposed death. He knew that Naruto would be ashamed if he up and left the village. Orochimaru had offered him power, but he didn't want it from that snake.

Sasuke halted in his practice and turned in the direction that Sakura was approaching.

"What's wrong Sakura? You don't usually come here so early."

The teen landed on the ground and strode over to her friend and sat against the tree he was beating earlier.

"Tsunade is assigning us a new teammate for the upcoming exams in Iwa."

There was only silence from the other teen.

"She says that he's only temporary, but I have a feeling if everything in Iwa goes well, that we'll be stuck with him."

"Do you know who he is? Any info on him?"

She handed him the file, he began to rummage through it.

"Sai? No surname?"

"No, probably orphaned after the Kyuubi attack."

"Hmm."

The boy sat next to her against the tree, still taking in all the information in the file.

"It says here that he had special training, but all information regarding that is missing."

The pink haired genin noted that that was strange, but a village of killers were bound to have secrets, so she didn't let herself be bothered by it.

"Tsunade said we'd be meeting him tomorrow morning at 8:00 and that if you have an issue to suck it up… Basically."

Sasuke only raised an eyebrow at that.

"Ok."

"OK?! This is totally not OK! Naruto is being replaced, do you thing that's ok?!"

"No, but it's necessary. Naruto would want us to take the chance at being promoted, with or without him here."

She looked downcast.

"Yea, I guess. I just wish he would be there with us."

"Sai."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

The teen was bowed before his master who sat at a stone desk surrounded by documents. He looked sternly and the shinobi before him.

"As you are aware, you have been temporarily placed within Genin Team 7 for the chunnin exams in Iwa. Tell me, how are they in their skill, I am aware that you've been training and observing with them for the past few days?"

Sai stood approaching the wooden chair placed in front of Danzo's desk. He sat quietly and begain his explanation.

"Haruno Sakura is very capable by genin standards, and should easily transition into the role required of a chunnin. Her medical knowledge is adequate for someone who's been learning for only two years but under the tutelage of Lady Tsunade, her endurance, strength and confidence as strived since her Academy report was written. Her skills in fighting have vastly improved but I believe her emotions and developing background in the medical field will hinder her when she's required to take seduction missions as well as those which require her to kill.

Uchiha Sasuke on the other hand has to problem with hesitation when it comes to dealing killing blows. His ninjutsu library under the teachings of Hatake Kakashi is over even most chunnin. He is quick to anger though and falls easily from taunts from both myself and Kakashi. This makes him sloppy and he quickly loses focus. He seems to rely mainly on his clan's bloodline as well as his endurance which he believes is above those of any opponent. This is false. It is obvious that Hatake or even I could easily dispose of the Uchiha. I suggest that he undergoes mental conditioning under the T&I sector and that once a chunnin, he should be stationed in one of the slave camps in Fire Country. For Sakura Haruno, I suggest that apprenticing under some of the Kunoichi who are regularly assigned to seduction missions will be beneficial to herself and should be assigned both one assassination mission and one seduction mission early in her chunnin career."

The war hawk was pleased. Sai was generally his best at obtaining and breaking down all information he receives. From the information he held on file, the boy was right in his findings and suggestions.

" You mission with Team 7 will be considered a B rank mission as you are to ensure that they pass all trails at the Iwa Exams. Iwa will generally hostile towards all leaf ninja and will try to hinder their progress. You are to ensure that this doesn't happen. I will mention your suggestions to the Hokage, but as she favors her apprentice more than other genin at her disposal I have a feeling that the motion to send her off to learn the art of seduction will be denied."

Danzo paused, thinking about his next choice of words. He shuffled through a few documents regarding that of his favorite Root Project.

"There is another mission that will be coinciding alongside your main one."

Sai looked up perplexed.

"This will be SS ranked, but not for you. You are simply an escort. You will be carrying a storage scroll with you to Iwa containing The Weapon. He will know what to do when unsealed. The less parameters you know of that mission, the better."

Danzo handed his shinobi a pitch black scroll with white characters on it reading simply, Weapon.

Sai's eyes widened at the sight. He knew of this scroll. It was only prepared an hour before escort and it was very _very _valuable in the hands of any Root handler.

"Is this.."

"Yes. You are to unseal him away from the gaze of any others two nights into entering Iwa. Any who do see this process are to be disposed of immediately. This order is absolute. His rendezvous point is listed in the written section next to the seal and he will be aware of his information. You will meet at that point two days after the exams have passed. I expect that Team 7 and the rest of the Lea shinobi would have left by then. Do whatever you need to do to distract your team and keep them unaware of your departure. Once you meet the weapon back at the meeting point, reseal him and report back to me. Is there any confusion in the task appointed to you?"

"No sir, not at all."

Sai's leather gloves tightened around the scroll.

"You are meeting with the caravan to Iwa in thirty minutes, I expect you not to be late. Dismissed."

Sai nodded and dashed off, running to get his pack for his time in Iwa. While he generally didn't like to show emotion at all, he was stunned that Danzo trusted him with Konoha's most valuable weapon. The scroll he held in his hands is invaluable to anyone who hold it. He was quite aware with the prowess the Shinobi possessed and he was afraid.

Just who in Iwa was so high caliber that it required an SS ranking and a stealth entrance through scroll smuggling?

Two hours earlier

"Shinobi."

Fully equipped with the addition of a black leathered flak jacket and a harness which held two black hilted tanto the weapon looked at his master for further instruction.

"The mission is this."

Danzo handed him a small file containing a photo and all valuable information to his target.

He was going to kill the Third Tsuchikage.


	3. Author's Note (It's small)

p style="text-align: center;"strongAUTHOR'S NOTE IMPORTANT:/strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;"strongI've recently made a huge change to the first chapter of this fic. While it's not terribly important to reread the entire chapter, just the beginning will suffice. There's been a minor change to chapter two as well to go along with this change. /strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;"strongJust letting you guys know./strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;"strongI'll have the next chapter posted soon./strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;" /p 


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